MUBC MAY NEWSLETTER 2019

MUBC Committee Welcome to the May 2019 Issue of Elected October 2018 the MUBC Newsletter. Quite a lot has happened since our last Newsletter, so President Christian Ryan this is a bumper edition. It is the Club’s Vice President Minnie Cade plan to be able in the future to update Treasurer Chris Hargreaves you on the various doings at MUBC Secretary Greg Longden Captain Gary Butcher on an approximately quarterly basis. Vice Captain Sarah Ben-David Ordinary member Sandy Marshall Ordinary Member Edward Walmsley New Coaching and Admin Staff Ordinary Member Milla Marston

Rowing seems to invite change and this last year has been no exception.

Matt Ryan High Performance Coach Part Time Olympic Silver Medalist 2008 James Smith Women’s Development Full Time NSW Coach of the Year 2015 and Club Coach Michael Poulter Men’s Development Coach Part Time U23 World Championships 2013 Ben Board MUBC Academy Manager Part Time Youth Olympic Gold Medalist (UK)

John Michelmore, Nick Stephenson and David England generously fill various coaching roles in an honourary capacity.

Dan Wallace Operations Manger Full Time Virginia Lee Administrative Assistant Part Time Faith Anderson Finance Officer Part Time

Future editions of the Newsletter will feature interviews with these important club officials.

1 \ MAY 2019 2019 Victorian State Championships

MUBC saw great success at the 2019 Row- ing State Championships which took place on the first weekend of March at Nagambie. Beginning with the small boats races early in the day, our first success was seen with a win over Mercantile in a close race for the U23 Men’s pair, which consist- ed of Joe O’Connell and Edward Walms- ley. The dominance continued for Uni in the men’s U21 pair, with MUBC taking the first four places in the A final, including a win for the pair of Harry Fox and Harrison Miller. A solid performance from the male pairs was backed up by a win in the open Gold in the U21 Women’s Pair Crew: Eleanor women’s pair for Georgina Howe and Elise Price and Brigid McKeagney-Douglas. Franetic, as well as wins in the U23 pair for 2019 Victorian State Championships Mila Marston and Georgia Lenton-Williams and U21 pair for Eleanor Price and Brigid McKeagney-Douglas. Jono Hookway took out silver in the open men’s scull. The Gold in the Open dominance over the small boat races con- Women’s 8+ (for tinued for Uni as Katherine Michelmore the first time in took out first place in the Open Women’s 10 years!) Crew: and Charlotte Wirtz brought Sophie Walmsley, Romy Keppel, home gold in the U23 division. The prom- Georgie Howe, ise of MUBC’s junior academy was also dis- Elise Franetic, played with Oliver Miller bringing home Charlotte Wirtz, silver in the Male School Single Scull. Georgia Lenton- Williams, Milla Marston, Katie As the day progressed to larger boats, Michelmore, MUBC continued to prove its dominance, Sarah Ben- winning the Male U21 coxed four, the Fe- David. male U21 coxed four as well as the Fe- 2019 Victorian male open four. In the -ribbon Men’s State Championships and Women’s 8s, there was no slowing MUBC’s roll, with the club winning the Female Open 8+, Male Open 8+ and Male U21 8+, with the U21 female 8+ bringing home silver in a tight race with Mercantile.

MUBC’s fine form continued on the Sun- day, as the grade races commenced. MUBC took second and third in the Female A pair, as well as silver in the Male A pair. Further performances from our Male D Grade dou- ble-scull, Female A grade four and Female A grade 8 amongst others, ensured MUBC’s medal tally continued to rise, ensuring the club finished atop the medal table with a total medal tally of 26.75, 0.5 ahead of Banks and 8.875 ahead of Mercantile. Gold in the U21 Men’s Crew: Tom Page, Joe O’Connell, Harry Fox, Congratulations to all from MUBC who Harrison Miller, Nick Doughty, Max Cooper, Max Fisher, Rob Corden-McKinley, Rohan raced and helped to ensure the club was 2 \Lavery. MAY 2019 proudly represented over the weekend. 2019 Victorian State Championships Throughout the final week of March, fif- ty-five athletes from MUBC took part in the International Rowing Re- gatta, which is perhaps better known as 2019 the Australian National Championships. Our group of rowers was the largest from any club in , made up of a mixture of Nationals junior academy, development, elite and club athletes and some mas- ters rowing in open competition.

Campaign Whenever possible, MUBC members raced with other MUBC members. This was a com- mendable demonstration of united club spirit, particularly when so much of the competition at Nationals tends to be domi- nated by hand-picked composite crews.

The eights races in the final three days of the regatta are a fitting example of this club pride. The Under 23 Men’s Eight (with a guest appearance from UTS rower Nick Lavery) won in an impressive time of 5:39.18, while anoth- er entirely MUBC eight came seventh in the same race. The Under 23 Women’s Eight put in a brave effort, only to lose a medal posi- tion by 0.2 of a second . There was less than a second between second, third and fourth.

The Open Women’s Eight came second to a National Training Centre composite crew in a time of 7:21.16. Coxswain Sarah Ben- David said that “We always love racing as a full MUBC crew, even when the other en- tries are composites - I guess that’s what they have to do if they want to beat us.”

There were other excellent performances in other crew boats and small boats in the ini- tial days of the regatta, including wins in the Open Men’s pair, U23 Men’s and Women’s Pairs. MUBC was the leading Victorian club on the Total Medal tally at the end of the week and third overall. While the results reflect our The Open Men’s Pair of Simon Keenan and Joshua Booth high level of performance as a club, they don’t Nationals 2019 express the smaller, individual experiences that participants take away from Nationals.

The Open Women’s Four of Georgie Howe, Katie Michelmore, Elise Franetic and Lucy Stephan Nationals 2019 Open Men's Quad of Josh Booth, Simon Keenan, Karsten Forster- ling, Jono Hookway – Silver (the only “club” crew) Nationals 2019 3 \ MAY 2019 Australian Rowing Team Trials 2019

March 8th to 15th saw MUBC’s current top rowers competing for selection in the 2019 Austral- ian Rowing team. The club had 9 senior athletes at the trials, including two time Olympians Josh Booth and Karsten Fosterling, Rio Olympian Lucy Stephan and recent Australian senior repre- sentatives Simon Keenan and Alice Arch along with Katie Michelmore, Georgina Howe and two coxswains, Sarah Ben-David and Lachlan Goller. This has been our largest club representation at senior trails in some years.

Following 7 days of racing we have 5 MUBC athletes named to represent Australia at World Cups 2 and 3. Josh Booth and Simon Keenan in the men’s sweep squad, Lucy Stephan in the woman’s sweep squad, Karsten Forsterling as men’s sculling reserve and Alice Arch in the lightweight dou- ble scull. Josh, Simon and Lucy had all been members of the newly created National Training Cen- tres based in and Penrith for the Men and Women respectively. Karsten and Alice trained locally to prepare for the trials under the guidance of MUBC club coaches and David England and the rest of the club squads.

The two World Cups this year in Poznan (June 21st) and Rotterdam (July 12th) will provide rac- ing experience for our crews ahead of the World Championships in Linz from the 25th August. This year’s World Championships also doubles as the Olympic Qualification regatta for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and so is a vital year for our Australian Team members. Confirmation of World Champi- onships team members will occur based on performances at the World Cups. We look forward to following our MUBC Australian representatives as they progress through their international prepa- ration and racing.

To follow the racing at the World Cup and World Championship regattas go to http://www.worldrowing.com on the dates above.

MUBC Celebrates Four Milestones

On Friday 30th August, the Club is hosting a dinner at the splendid Plaza Ballroom under the Regent Theatre at the corner of Collins and Swanston Streets celebrating:

The 160th anniversary of the founding of MUBC which occurred on 3rd September 1859.

The 100th anniversary of the Peace Regatta won by the No. 1 AIF crew stroked by Dr. Clive Disher, former Captain. Coach, President and Patron of MUBC on 5th July 1919.

The 50th anniversary of the founding of MULRC with rowing commencing in 1968 and affiliation with MU Sports Union in 1970.

The 20th anniversary of the merging of the men’s and women’s rowing clubs under the name of University Boat Club on 4th July 1999.

Save the date and start organizing reunion tables.

Formal invitations will be sent out in due course.

4 \ MAY 2019 MUBC Lunch 40 years ago and more

“Remember when we won every race in the season...”

On Sunday 27th May 2018 the Club held a lunch for those that rowed at MUBC 40 years ago and more.

86 former “greats” enjoyed an excellent lunch with Will Beedham as guest speaker explaining the MUBC junior program initiated to reach non rowing schools.

Two new honour boards recognizing financial supporters for the MUBC Future Fund were on view for the first time (Article elsewhere in this issue on these boards).

Members of the 1958 and 1968 men’s Intervarsity Eights and 1978 men’s and wom- en’s Intervarsity Eights, Fours and Pairs attended as did members of the 1978 Aus- tralian Lightweight Championship Eight. There were many other crews represented.

In 1953 trial races were held to determine the crew that would represent Australia in the Empire Games, now called the . Three crews were invited to participate. A NSW representative crew, a Victorian representative crew contain- ing 3 MUBC members and the reserve plus, extraordinarily, a complete MUBC club crew. MUBC members from both of these crews were at the lunch. Sadly the NSW crew went on to win the trials.

The 1968 Monash Intervarsity eight was also very warmly welcomed.

As the saying goes, a great day was had by all.

5 \ MAY 2019 Harvey Nicholson Memorial Honour Board Honour MUBC has for the past 30 years given pride of place to the Harvey Nicholson Memo- rial Honour Board for MUBC members Boards representing Australia at the elite level including Senior World Championships and . The honour board was donated by MUBC elder Colin Smith.

Harvey Nicholson, while not a promi- nent rower, was an athlete who showed keen interest in MUBC and ultimately be- came a successful coach and long term President. Within MUBC and Victoria Har- vey always championed elite rowing.

Many great MUBC names are listed on the board. The first is Clive Disher in the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta. Recent retired Pres- ident Peter Antonie is listed 19 times. The original board reached capacity in 2011.

In 2014 Colin Smith again generously funded the construction of a new board. A recent major inclusion is Kim Crow, MUBC’s first Olympic sculling champion.

MUBC Coaches Honour Board A new Honour Board has been erected commemorating MUBC coaches who have been awarded national representative crew coaching roles. This board has been placed beside the elite athletes board. The first MUBC coach listed is Harry Ross-Soden who coached at the Henley Peace Regatta. Other notable representatives include the late Peter Philp and Brian Dalton, who both coached World Championship gold medal crews.

MUBC Honorary Life Members Board

Clubs such as MUBC owe a great debt to members who have worked tirelessly over many decades for the benefit of the club. These members have from time to time been nominated and elected to Honorary Life Memberships not to be confused with Life Membership ‘purchased’ during the 1950’s to 70’s at a time when rowing ceased soon after graduation and masters rowing did not exist.

In 2017 the MUBC Committee with support of the Future Fund created the Honorary Life Members Board and utilising early committee minutes were able to create the list- ing. An interesting fact ‘rediscovered’ is that though MUBC’s early history is all male, in 1908 Mrs I Ross-Soden was elected an Honorary Life Member. Mrs Ross-Soden had a number of sons row at MUBC and donated substantial funds towards the construction of the boatshed.

Though the awarding of honorary life memberships had fallen away, the committee has now determined that nominations and elections for those special supporters should re- commence. In 2017 MUBC members elected Peter ‘Harry’ McKeon and Barbara Griffiths to Honorary Life Membership.

6 \ MAY 2019 New Honour Boards Celebrate Giving

Two new honour boards have been installed in the “Blue” or function room at MUBC.

One board recognises those who have already made signifi- cant donations and pledges to the Melbourne University Sports Foundation Rowing Chapter (known informally as the MUBC Future Fund). Since setting up the MUBC Future Fund in 2014 just shy of $2.5 million has been pledged in support of MUBC programs, equipment and student scholarships. Thanks to the generosity of our donors the Fund is well on its way towards the goal of having a capital sum in excess of $5M, the earnings on which, after inflation, it is hoped will support many initiatives of the Club for generations to come.

The second board celebrates the members of the “1859 Club” who have left a bequest in their will to the Melbourne Uni- versity Sports Foundation Rowing Chapter. Again the Club deeply appreciates these generous benefactors who wish many others to experience the exhilaration of rowing and the lifelong friendships forged at MUBC.

We hope that over the next year or two many other Club sup- porters will follow the lead of those who have already donat- ed and/or left a bequest to help us achieve that $5M target and so that we can add their names to these honour boards.

Australian Masters Rowing Championships Lake Barrington, , 10-13 May 2018

This regatta proved to be MUBC’s most successful Australian Masters Rowing Regatta ever, winning the overall point score for the most successful masters club in Australia. Masters Regatta events are divided into age groups. For example, D is for a minimum average crew age of 50 and H is 70.

Among the more notable results for the women’s club crews were victories by the E eight in the Champion Club eight event, and by the E and F quads and the D double. In addition, composite women’s crews containing MUBC members won gold in the E8, F8 and the D quad. The outstand- ing individual performance by a woman was Bea Klein-van Mullekom who won gold in the D single, silver in the prestigious Champion of Champions Single event and gold in the victorious Victorian women’s Interstate Quad.

The men’s club crews dominated in the eights with the F, G and H eights all winning gold in their age groups, as well as MUBC composite eights winning the A, B and E eights and the H eight win- ning silver in the Champion Club eight event. H Division crew members were particularly pleased to defeat long-time rivals from Mosman, Toowong and Banks Rowing Clubs.

Notable individual performances by the men included Geoff Rees and Field Rickards winning the G pair (continuing their winning streak over the years in every age division from C onwards in the pairs event), and Paul Ferguson and Greg Longden winning gold in four different age divisions at the one regatta – in the E, F, G and H eights!

There were also numerous bronze and silver results for both men and women MUBC members.

It was pleasing to see that MUBC men and women combined for a gold medal in the E mixed eights. The women’s E eight and the men’s H eight held some training sessions together in the lead up to the regatta, and this proved to be mutually beneficial.

Finally, a word of sincere thanks to the club’s main coxes at this regatta, David England and Jenny Scott, who both shouldered a heavy, but very successful workload, and to Greg Longden as load master and driver for the club’s trailer. Simon and Ann Turner donate an Empacher Eight and oars

Simon Turner and his wife Ann have generously donated an Empacher Eight with a set of oars to MUBC. The Ann Turner was christened on Saturday 7 October 2018 named after both Simon’s wife and his mother. After coxing the Extra Collegiate crew in 1968 to a win over Monash Uni- versity in the Clive Disher Cup and then another win over Ormond College in the John Lang Cup, he was selected to steer the Melbourne University eight in the Intervarsity Regatta to be held that year on a two mile course on the Canning River in . In a tight finish, rating 44, MUBC beat the “unbackable favourites” University in what was the last Intervasity rowed before the adoption of the standard 2000m races.

Simon coxed many other crews over the next few years. Simon started sculling over the 1968 winter, winning a heat in the Herald Shield and winning the Wal Dennis Cup in 1969. He is still a very keen sculler, doing lengthy rows on a lake about an hour away from where he now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado. A year after completing his Vet Science degree in 1972 Simon headed off to the US to un- Simon Turner murders a bottle of bubbly dertake further studies, first at Ohio State (where he met his wife Ann) and then at Colorado State.

He has had an outstanding academic career becoming a full Professor in 1986 and being awarded the Lifetime Excellence in Research Award by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Not- withstanding that he has lived in the US for the past 45 years or so, Simon has maintained an ex- tremely strong connection with MUBC and his strong love of the Club and rowing shines through in everything that he does. This has been highlighted by this recent substantial donation.

The John Hall Rowing Scholarship

John Hall began at the in 1952. Having rowed at high school, John was immediately iden- tified as a championship calibre oarsman and took the seven seat in the Melbourne University Boat Club senior men’s heavyweight eights in the 1951-1952 and 1952-1953 club seasons and also in the victorious MUBC men’s heav- yweight eights at the 1952 and 1953 Intervarsity regattas. John’s status as an elite oarsman was confirmed when he was selected, aged 19, for the successful 1953 Victorian King’s Cup crew.

Unfortunately for John, financial considerations caused him to cease competitive rowing in late 1953. John sat on the river bank and cheered while his MUBC and Victo- rian rowing comrades went on to Intervarsity successes in John Hall in the 7 seat of the Winning 1952 Intervarsity Crew (Murray Bridge) 1954, 1955 and 1956, King’s Cup victories in 1954 and 1956 in training on the Yarra and an Olympic medal in 1956 in . John vowed that when his children went to University, he would sup- port them to study and row for as long as they chose. To this end, his eldest son Tony joined the club for the 1977-1978 season and started at the Uni- versity of Melbourne in 1978. John’s second son Richard started at MUBC in the 1979-1980 season and at the University in 1980 and daughter Kate started rowing for MUBC in the 1981-1982 season. All three of John’s children rowed successfully for Victoria, and Kate took a bronze medal for Aus- tralia at the 1986 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games.

So it is in honour and memory of John Hall that his son Richard created the John Hall Rowing Scholarship, in the hope that these funds may help keep young, talented rowers in the MUBC boats where they belong. Australian Selections and Results 2018

Five MUBC athletes were selected into the Australian Senior Rowing Team in the 2018 season. Josh Booth and Simon Keenan in the Men’s Eight, Lucy Stephan in the Women’s Four, Alice Arch in the Lightweight Women’s Single, and Ka- tie Michelmore as the travelling reserve.

Lucy’s four took gold at both World Cup 2 and 3, but a last minute crew change due to injury before the World Championships left them with some catching up to do. Despite this set back the crew won a Sil- ver Medal ahead of a fast finishing Russia with the USA taking gold. Post-race, Lucy Stephan said, “It was a tough race. This is only the second year of the Olympiad and, Lucy Stephan (right) Silver W4 ultimately, we’re building towards Tokyo.” 2018 World Championships The Men’s Eight, with Josh Booth and Si- mon Keenan, had a nail-biting finish to their race, with the crew staving off an at- tack from a fast paced British crew to snap up a silver medal behind who claimed gold. The Australians crossed the line in a time of 5 minutes 26.11 seconds, just 0.03 of a second ahead of Great Britain.

Alice Arch had a good start to her 2018 World Rowing Championships, with the Lightweight Women’s Single sculler fin- ishing second in her heat and booking a place in the semi-finals. Alice had a strong race in the B Final to finish 5th, capping off her first season in the single.

MUBC also had strong underage Australian representation in 2018, with 5 MUBC wom- en selected for underage teams. Congrat- ulations to Charlotte Wirtz and Phoebe Georgakas, who raced on the U21 Austral- ian team in the Trans-Tasman regatta. And Josh Booth and Simon Keenan Silver M8+ also to Elise Franetic, Sarah Ben-David 2018 World Championships and Lucy Pearce (US-based) who raced at U23 World Championships in Poznan. This was Lucy and Charlotte’s first time wear- ing the green and gold, while Phoebe was representing Australia for the 2nd time, and Elise and Sarah for the third time.

9 \ MAY 2019 9 \ MAY 2019 2018 UniSport Australia Nationals Div 1 Rowing Regatta

In September of 2018, the University of Mel- bourne participated at the inaugural UniSport Australia Division 1 Rowing Regatta at Wyara- long Dam in central . Older MUBC members will wonder at the name change.

While the inter university competitions were known for over a century as “Intervarsity” or I/V, it was changed to the “University Games” some years ago. We are now blest with the title UniS- port Australia Nationals. And while there is no Div 2 in rowing, there is, apparently, a Div 1. Hap- pily the actual competition is as serious as ever.

The 25 athlete team set expectations high on the first day of racing with all but 2 crews di- rectly achieving A finals berths straight from the heat stage. Under the administrations of coach James Smith, the team commenced their medal winning ways with bronze and sil- ver medals in the first two finals contested at the regatta: the mixed four and mixed eight respectively. Buoyed by these strong perfor- Charlotte Wirtz, Milla Marston, Kate Duggan, mances, and fuelled by a nutritious team din- Jacqui Hart, Phoebe Georgakas, Georgia Lenton- ner on the Thursday night, Melbourne Universi- Williams. ty was primed for a successful finals campaign. UniSport Nationals 2018 The Women’s Pair charged home to a silver med- al, signalling the start of a very successful day for the Melbourne University women’s crews. Bronze was the next medal colour a few minutes later, for the Men’s Coxed Four. Wins in the Wom- en’s Double Sculls and Women’s Eight kept the medal tally ticking upwards. With a throwback to the 2018 , the seasoned combination of Tom Page and James Heath snagged a bronze medal behind strong Syd- ney University and UTS crews in the Men’s Pair.

The next gold medal for Melbourne Universi- ty came in the closest race of the regatta: the Women’s Four. Eleanor Price, Kate Duggan, Brigid McKeagney-Douglas, Jacqui Hart and super coxswain Phoebe Georgakas kept out the crew featuring University of Edward Walmsley, James Heath, Robert Corden- McKinley, Christopher Hargreaves, Fergus Ellis, Melbourne alumnus and former Club Captain Maxwell Fisher, Thomas Page, Carl Doedens. Cox: Hedda Cooper, to win by less than a canvas. Fi- Sarah Ben-David, Coach: Michael Poulter (Silver). nally, the Men’s Eight, in an attempt to follow the performances of their female counterparts ear- UniSport Nationals 2018 lier in the day, rounded the day off with a silver medal behind a quick Sydney University crew.

10 \ MAY 2019 MUBC Members Honoured

MUBC wins three awards at Rowing Victoria Awards ceremony

On Sunday 12th August, Rowing Victoria hosted the 2018 An- nual Awards. MUBC won:

Senior Premiership for Open, U23, U21, U19 & U17 events

Bea Klein-van Mullekon was awarded Best Rower runner-up for Masters Women

David Yates was awarded Greg Longden, Bea Klein-van Mullekon and Outstanding Achievement Award David Yates accepting the awards. in Victorian Rowing

David Yates Bea Klein-van Mullekon David has been a successful coach at club, Bea is an outstanding masters rower who, state and international levels. He was one of as well as her award from Rowing Victoria, the first Australian coaches to introduce a has won the MUBC club Best Female Mas- high proportion of aerobic distance training. ter’s Award for several years now. His work with “Yatesy’s scullers” in the 1980’s produced many winners, not only in single sculls but virtually all other boat types. Da- vid was a National Selector for over 20 years.

Governor’s Award Victorian Female Athlete of the Year Kitty McEwan Award - Lucy Stephan, Rowing In March 2018, Lucy started her domestic season by winning the Queen’s Cup Women’s In- terstate Eights race at the Australian Rowing Championships in Sydney. On the 2018 In- ternational stage, Lucy won a gold medal as part of the Australian Rowing Team for the Women’s in Austria. At the World Rowing Championships in Bulgar- ia, Lucy raced again in the Women’s Coxless Four and won a silver medal behind the USA. Lucy is now part of the Australian elite training centre at Penrith and is heading off in the green and gold to the World Cups prior to the World Championships.

2018 Hancock Prospecting Rower of the Year awards

To end a strong 2018 season for MUBC, Josh Booth was awarded the Gina Reinhart Leadership Award at the Hancock Prospecting Rower of the Year awards. Lucy Stephan’s four was awarded the 2018 Female Crew of the Year. Further, was honoured for her outstanding performance over three Olympic cycles as she announced her retirement from rowing, and the Men’s Four - including MUBC members Cameron McKenzie-McHarg and , as well as cur- rent MUBC High Performance coach Matt Ryan - were honoured for their silver medal performance.

11 \ MAY 2019 MUBC Members Honoured

Richard Larkins Awarded Companion of the Order of Australia

One of MUBC’s most esteemed and active I Divi- sion Masters oarsmen, Richard Larkins was awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia in the Aus- tralia Day Honours Awards. Richard was an excep- tional student, being Dux of Melbourne Grammar in 1960 before then graduating MBBS from the Uni- versity of Melbourne in 1966 as the top student.

He was Dean of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sci- ences at Melbourne University from 1998-2003, then was Vice-Chancellor of from 2003-2009 and up until recently was Chan- cellor of . He was awarded his AC for ‘eminent service to medicine and medi- cal research, to education through academic lead- Richard Larkins AC ership, to public health and to the community’.

No doubt his interest in supporting the first three of Victoria’s universities came as a result of his victory in the 3 seat of the Melbourne University Extras crew which defeated Monash to win the first race for the Clive Disher Cup in 1965 (see pg 179 of Well Rowed University). The Extras crew also won the Open Eights up at Mildura and Wentworth Regattas that year. This followed on from his victory in the Trinity College crew in the 1964 Intercollegiate First Eights. Richard is also an excellent golfer and was President of Royal Melbourne Golf Club from 2002-2005. And, unbelievably, still fits in annual Head of the Yarra appearances as well as taking a very active part in Masters international racing most recently in the memorable 12k races in Germany in 2017.

A personal thank you Alice Arch – MUBC club member and current bow seat of AUS LW Double As some may or may not know, I had been a member of the Women’s National Train- ing Centre in Penrith for two years from 2016. After a mixed bag of results interna- tionally across all lightweight boats, my scholarship to the NTC was discontinued in October 2018. After returning to Melbourne training domestically at the club, I have recently been selected in the double to race internationally at the world cups this year. This return to the Australian rowing team in no way would have been possible without the overwhelming support I received upon returning to MUBC late last year.

I felt fully and completely backed by my coaches and peers and was provid- ed with the environment, expertise and encouragement that I needed to suc- ceed. I feel completely indebted to the support I received. In particular, I would like to thank coaches, Matt Ryan and David England, mentor and boat pro- vider Alice McNamara and key squad legends Katie Michelmore, Ben Coombs, Georgina Howe, Elise Franetic, Karsten Forsterling and Charlotte Wirtz.

I will always have very fond memories of our season, and hope to do you and the wider MUBC community proud as I embark on international racing and Olympic Qualification.

12 \ MAY 2019 Gold in the Open Men’s Eight. Crew: Tom Hooper, Jono Hookway, Lachlan Goller, James Heath, Ed Walmsley, Alick Rose, Fergus Ellis, Ben Coombs (UTS), Henry Youl (Tamar).

2019 Victorian State Championships